Watch Vampire Weekend Play a New Song in Cleveland and Chicago

MONDAY, JULY 16, 2012|

Posted by: Andrew Gruttadaro

It seems like it's been way longer than two-plus years since Vampire Weekend released their superb sophomore album, Contra. Well hallelujah, because thanks to technology, we have evidence of new Vampire Weekend music -- a fan caught the band debuting a song at their show at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH. From what we can tell, it's a nice, fun, consistently uptempo song that echoes Paul Simon and The Monkees and features Vampire Weekend's signature West African percussion and staccato guitar solos.

In a recent SPIN interview leadman Ezra Koenig did with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen, Koenig admitted that they have already written and recorded 80 percent of their next album, so it's likely that this "New Song #2" is part of that percentage. As for a release date for Contra's follow-up, bassist Chris Baio told Rolling Stone that they'd like it to come out before the end of this year. Oh boy, it's all happening!

The band played the song again at Pitchfork Festival yesterday, starting at 8:19:00. (Click the link if you want to jump straight there.)